Synopsis:
A noir send-up. A narrator introduces
himself at a Hollywood party: he's Harry Lockhart, a thief from New York, in
L.A. for a screen test. He meets Gay Perry, a glitzy private eye who's to school
him for his role; there's Harmony Lane, a wannabe actress whose time has passed;
the host is an aging actor who starred in detective movies, plus his daughter,
with starlet looks and a choppy past. The next day, Gay and Harry stake out a
house where Gay is to take surreptitious photographs for a client - what they
find is a corpse. From there, twists and connections abound and bodies pile up.
Who's double-crossing whom? And, has Harry found Harmony too late to save
himself from misery?
Brian's Rating:
B : I am not sure what it is, but I tend to like comedy murder mysteries.
Previous examples of like-minded movies are Clue, So I Married An Axe Murderer,
and Spies Like Us. All of these came to mind when I was watching the movie.
It is a style of comedy I like, not slapstick, but sort of sarcastic. This
movie delivers it, and has a refreshing technique where it is narrated directly
to the audience in a flippant manner. The narrator cracks many dry jokes about
the movie itself.
Val Kilmer either did horrible, or was a horrible casting decision, I am not
sure which. The lead actress did a good job though (cannot remember her name).
I liked the movie. It made me smile and laugh. I would watch it again if there
is a good opportunity to do so.
The
Freak's Rating: C- : I started watching this one and instantly grabbed
my cousin Angie, who was staying with us at the time, saying she should watch
it. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang begins with all the clever dialogue and narrative
that you could want in a film. Humorous scenes abound and performances by
Kilmer and Downey Jr are good. Touches of film noir are rarely seen
nowadays and I'll admit that it was refreshing to see here.
However, the problem is that the
movie realizes it is clever, which is a fatal mistake in my book. The
reason truly clever dialogue succeeds in film, such as Pulp Fiction, is that the
film never acknowledges being as clever as it is. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has
moments where it all but winks at the camera and that was too much for me to
recommend it.
Storminator's Rating: A- : A quirky, amusing film (even if it's aware of
its own wittiness) and a perfect role for Robert Downey, Jr.
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